Marin Voice: Self-reliance is a cornerstone of the American Dream

LYNN WOOLSEY'S view of the American Dream turns history and our national values on their heads.

The basic promises of America are rich: We get to make the big and little decisions that shape our lives. Hard work can enhance our circumstances and prospects, and help our families. Opportunity beckons. The many who can help those in need.

As a nation we've kept these promises imperfectly, but we remain distinctive in aspiring to deliver on them.

Woolsey, as articulated in a Marin Voice in September, would have us believe that the bedrock of the American Dream is layers of federal redistribution programs. How can this be true given these programs have been around for less than a third of our history?

There always has been and always will be people in need. And we have a responsibility and self-interest to help them. In a healthy democracy, a large majority will view itself as self-sufficient and contributing to the country's broader goals. Those deemed "in need," then, will be a minority. While there is no precise formula, it seems reasonable to ask, say, three or four people to pitch in to help out each person in need. The more fortunate 75 percent to 80 percent — the many — provide a safety net for the less fortunate 20 percent to 25 percent — the few in need.

We are far from this balance and liberal policies take us farther away. As Mitt Romney inarticulately but accurately observed, almost half of the country pays no federal income tax. And that percentage is growing (as recently as the mid-80s, this number was below 20 percent). For every person paying these taxes, there is basically another person who is not. Almost half of our citizens enjoy benefits of the federal government (e.g., defense, court systems) for free and, more corrosively, have no vested interest in controlling spending for such benefits. Certainly some of these people are disadvantaged or serving our nation, and for them this arrangement is just. But half the country? Any hope of offering prosperity to coming generations is slipping away with this need-creep.

Many Democrats, including Woolsey and Jared Huffman, want to morph our safety nets for those in need into guarantees for the middle class. The combination of the few truly in need and the middle class produces a large majority that would be financially dependent on the government. To believe, as the Progressive Caucus and the Obama administration do, that 2 percent of the country can pay for all of this is foolhardy. This definition of the American Dream is the European Reality — peoples and nations there are learning the hard way what happens when the "needy" vastly out-number the "fortunate." Even if borne of good intentions, this is simply not sustainable.

We are a self-reliant people. We also recognize the responsibility to help others. For most of our history, the first line of support was family, friends, charities and local communities, and this should continue to be so. Over time, the federal government has taken on a valuable role. This role, however, continues to expand and has moved well beyond the appropriate bounds of those truly in need.

Constraining the federal government to this threshold is not hard-hearted or "sink or swim" as those on the left claim. Restraints on the federal government and trust in the people and institutions other than the federal government — these are the bedrock of the American Dream and the hallmarks of our nation's success.

Todd Hooper of Greenbrae is a management consultant. He was the Republican candidate for the Marin-Sonoma seat in the House of Representatives in 2006, losing to Lynn Woolsey.